


Andromeda Moments

by Pikuna



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Ayden being impulsive and the others have to deal with it, Drabbles, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Shenanigans, Tenderness, crazy modifications, just some random ideas that come to my mind, piggyback-ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-16 05:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11247060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikuna/pseuds/Pikuna
Summary: Short snippets that came to my mind while playing Andromeda or while I simply thought about it.Shows the little moments between fights and big scenes, the normal crazy everyday life of Ayden Ryder and her crew.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, started this mainly so I finally can write something down and actually post it.   
> Most of my other stuff is far longer and I need to practice writing short stuff anyway.

"Ha! I told you that the charge-boost on the jump jet would work wonder in a fight."

Ayden Ryder grinned proud and brightly about their last successful battle. She held out her fist towards Jaal, who walked besides her and wiggled her eyebrows playfully at him. All he had to say to this was a deep sigh and a shake of his head. But he still smiled and bumped his fist against hers.

"Those Roekaar surely pissed themselves, when you stormed into their group like a berserk," hummed Vetra, still unsure if she should be impressed or shocked by Ryder's little stunt. 

"Oh, I wish I could've seen their faces! At least their screams were hilarious," Ayden snickered and then looked with a wide grin between her two companions. "At least your expressions were great. I think I have never seen you guys so shocked."

"Some kind of warning definitely would have been nice. The element of surprise is kinda wasted when it affects your team too." Vetra's voice had now settled on being scolding and Jaal grunted in agreement.

Ayden sighed defeated and took a few quick steps to stand in front of them, raising one hand in a pacifying gesture.

"You are right. I will give you an early warning the next time I do the charge. And there _will be_ a next time," she quickly added when Jaal was about to open his mouth. "I might have to tweak a few things and practice a bit, but that move is far too cool and effective to drop it."

The Angara deflated a bit and finally shrugged. "Very well. I know how much you love your little... _tricks_ , after all."

Then his frown changed into a smirk. "But Darling one, please promise me-" he looked from her cracked helmet under her arm to her slightly bruised face- "that you will stop crashing into walls."

Ayden's answer to that was a sheepish smile, before realization dawned on her.

"Lexi is _so_ gonna kill me," she mumbled. 

"Should have thought about that sooner, huh?" Vetra chuckled, while Jaal's booming laughter could be heard for miles. 


	2. Chapter 2

It was late evening when Jaal found Ayden at the port of Aya, sitting in front of a generator. 

He had searched for her since the afternoon an had started to get worried, but was relieved seeing her tinkering with something.

As usual.

"Darling One! I have been looking for you," he tried to get her attention and walked towards her.

She didn't react right away. Only when he was standing besides her she stopped in her working and looked up to him, her eyes slowly blinking.

"Oh, hello Jaal," she greeted him with a smile, which he returned.

"What are you doing here?"

Again it took Ayden a few seconds before she answered, just as if she had to think about the reason.

"Uhm, Saalro had some problems with the generators. I helped him fix it."

Jaal hummed and tilted his head. "That is very kind of you. But where is he now?"

"Went home when his shift was over a while ago." She waved her hand in the direction to where Saalro had been gone and was already focusing again on the generator. Both her movements and words were rather sluggish, which made Jaa's smile go wider.

"I see." He leant against the wall behind Ayden, crossing his arms and watching her for a few moments. "And...what are you still doing here, when the problem is already fixed?"

"Well, when I saw how the generators worked, I got a few ideas to improve the power system for the port. Told Saalro my ideas and he said I could try to implement them on one of the less important ones, to test it," she explained and switched from looking at her Omnitool to change things on the generator's circuits.

Jaal could only shake his head with a fond smile. "Typical for you, not leaving it at just repairing something. No, you have to improve it. It wouldn't surprised me if you had built a new generator from scratch."

"Actually-" Ayden stopped in her work and turned around- "that's what I had in mind first. But Saalro didn't want to let go of the old ones."

The two looked at each other, not saying a word. Jaal was indeed not even a bit surprised.

When Ayden visibly suppressed a yawn, he chuckled and squatted down besides her. 

"So...you have been here all day long working on the generators, right?" he asked her and when she nodded Jaal had to grin. "Weren't you expected somewhere else today?"

At first Ayden only frowned, utterly confused about what he was talking about. But after a while she seemed to remember, for her eyes went wide and she started to mumble curses his translator couldn't catch.

"How high is the chance that Evfra will simply shoot me, next time I'm at the HQ?"

The Angara had to laugh at this and he took one of her hands in his to pat it soothingly. "Don't worry dearest. The Moshae and I were able to dim down his anger and also convince him to have another meeting tomorrow."

Relief was written on Ayden's face and she gently squeezed his hand. "You are a lifesaver Jaal." 

He hummed, pleased with her words and gesture. "For you, always."  Another chuckle came from him when Ayden wasn't able to hold back the yawn this time.  "But I think it's now time to go to rest. You can finish the improvements tomorrow." 

When Jaal got up again he tried to pull up Ayden too, but she let go of his hand the moment she noticed this. "Just give me ten more minutes, I'm sure I will have it finished by then."

"Ayden-" he said with patience in his voice and smile- "we both know that it will take longer than ten minutes. Come on now, you need your sleep. You don't want to face Evfra when you are tired, do you?"

She visible struggled with a decision here, looking between the generator and the Tempest in the distance. So he decided to give her a little help.

"I will carry you to the Tempest," he said in an almost singsong voice. Ayden's face immediately lit up, but there was still suspicion in her eyes.

"Thought piggybacks were only for Voeld?"

"Hmm, how was your earth saying? Exceptions prove the rule," he simply answered and hold his hand expectantly to her.

Ayden rolled her eyes and sighed, but when she looked back at him she smiled wide. "You just know which of my buttons to press."

"A shame if I would not," he answered with an amused hum, familiar with the idiom, and pulled her up, when she took his hand. The he turned around and indicated her to hop on. Ayden didn't need to be told twice and with a little squeal she jumped on his back. Jaal had to maintain his balance, but they were already laughing together about this little silly act that had become some kind of thing for them, mostly when they were on Voeld and Ayden was too cold to walk any further.

As soon as he had his footing back, Jaal started to head for the Tempest, ignoring the weird looks they got from the few people that were still around the docks. 

Ayden had snuggled her head against his back and only seconds later, her content sighs had turned into soft snores. 

An enamored smile was on Jaal's face on the rest of the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I say that it feels really got to write these little, stupid things? Hope they are just as entertaining for you as for me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick, fluffy idea I got last night when I couldn't sleep.  
> I love it when Ayden and Jaal get all that cuddly together. <3

The universe always looked peacefully, with or without the Kett terrorizing it.

Jaal was sitting on his side of the bed and staring outside into the space, enjoying the view of the glowing stars and planets that surrounded the Tempest. 

It was night time, but the Angara wasn't able to sleep. For once it weren't nightmares or worries that kept him away, rather was it a calm excitement to finally witness this cluster without a big threat hanging over it and finally to be free. 

He had always hoped for, but never had thought to actually witness it. Sometimes it was hard for Jaal to wrap his mind around that the Kett were gone for now, but that didn't dimmed his happiness over it.

And also his gratitude towards the person who had accomplished this.

Some rustling and sleepy murmuring drew his attention to Ayden laying besides him, still sleeping soundly and nestled into the blankets. 

A deep-drawn sigh escaped Jaal and his heart got heavy with emotions while he watched his love in her slumber. He run a hand through her disarray of long hair, gently so he wouldn't wake her.

Still it didn't took Ryder long to slowly stir awake. Jaal had just started to caress her cheeks, when her hand came up from under the blankets and laid it over his.

Her half-opened, sleepy eyes looked right into his loving ones. She smiled and they said nothing for a while, just looking tenderly at each other.

Until Ayden mumbled a few words in her language. Jaal never had bothered to adjust his translator to this other human language, since he knew those words very well by now. And he returned them, whispering in Shelesh.

_I love you._

Now it was her turn to sigh deeply and she then she giggled from obvious happiness, which made him chuckle. 

Ayden's movements were still sluggish from sleep, when she sat up and scooted closer to Jaal, leaning against him and wound her arms around his right one.

"Everything okay big guy?" she asked him quietly. 

"It is," he answered just as quietly and smoothed some of Ayden's hair out of her face. "You don't need to worry, Darling One."

She hummed at that and he also sent some gentle pulses of his bioelectricity to reassure her. But she didn't gave up that easily. "Hmm, and then why are you awake at this hour?"

"Maybe I just like watching you sleep?" Jaal answered with a chuckle, which made her snort.

"This coming from anyone else than you would sound _so_ creepy."

She then put her chin on his shoulder, looking up at him expectantly. After another minute of staring at each other, Jaal gave in to her question. 

"I'm just...thinking," he started, looking out of the window again. "It feels like only weeks since you landed on Aya. My mind is still needing to keep up with all that occurred...all that I have learned and that has changed for my people."

"Really have turned your world upside-down in a rush, huh?" Ayden asked amused, when he didn't continue. 

"Only for the better," he hummed agreeing, nuzzling his face into her hair and pressing his lips into the crown of her head. "I'm just excited to see what life is without the Kett. Never have I known something else."

"Well, I sure do hope our adventures will involve more fun than constant near-death from now on," she said with an annoyed. Jaal chuckled into her hair.

"It certainly won't become dull with you around, dearest. That I'm sure of."

"Of course not, I'm the embodiment of fun!" Ayden said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster in the moment, but immediately had to yawn. She then let go of his arm, only to hug him from the side and snuggling against him. "And since you are stuck with me for like ever, it will never get boring for you."

Jaal looked fondly down at her, how this small human literally wrapped herself around him. With his free hand he pressed her even closer to him.

"Wouldn't trade it for anything in this or any other galaxy," he said and kissed her forehead. Ayden sighed dreamily at this, a reaction that told him she liked what he said very much. 

They sat together in silence for a while, until Jaal noticed how her grip on him loosened more and more. 

"You really should go back to sleep Ayden," he whispered and nudged her head with his nose. Thereupon her grip tightened again for a moment and she grumbled against his shoulder.

"Only when you come too. Can't sleep without my Sayang beside me."

"As you wish, my Taoshay," he chuckled and she made a pleased noise.

She then released Jaal, so he could get the chance to lay down comfortably, before she snuggled against him again. He gently tucked her more against his body, cradling her head with one hand. 

It didn't take long for Ayden to completely fall asleep again. Her soft snoring also lulled him slowly into sleep, feeling so at peace than never before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sayang = Malaysian term of endearment for loved ones.


End file.
